BANGLADESH: Chains of Corruption Strangle Nation

The rule of law
does not exist in Bangladesh. The way the Rapid Action
Battalion (RAB) abducted seven men, including a senior
lawyer and a member of the mayoral panel of the Narayanganj
City Corporation (NCC), on 27 April 2014, and murdered them,
allegedly on behalf of a feuding faction of the ruling
party, in exchange for a 60 million Taka (US$ 774,000)
bribe, is proof yet again of this fact.

The role of
family members of a cabinet minister in masterminding the
operation, police inaction in the face of knowledge of the
abduction, and eyewash gestures at the highest levels of
government confirm fears. The politics of blood and wealth
reign supreme in Bangladesh; there is no space for the rule
of law. A 'chain of corruption' has replaced the 'chain of
command' in Bangladesh's law-enforcement system, and the
people are forced to pay more to the law enforcers than they
do their government (For further details, please see an
earlier statement on the subject).

On 27 April 2014, Mr.
Md. Nazrul Islam, a Councillor of the NCC, approached the
district's Sessions Court to seek permanent bail in a case
filed against him and his followers by political opponents,
the Bangladesh Awami League, i.e. the ruling party.

At the
court premises, Nazrul was under constant surveillance by
plain-clothed members of the RAB. Nazrul's associates caught
one of the plain-clothed men, who happened to be armed, and
handed him to the on-duty police officers at the court. The
police released the man following intervention by a
uniformed RAB officer, who came to rescue his colleague.
Vehicles with "'RAB-11' signs were also noticed parked in
front of the court.

By 12:30 p.m., Nazrul and fifteen more
persons, who were all accused in the same case, managed to
get bail from the court. After a while, Nazrul, along with
three associates and his car driver, left the court. Their
car began heading towards Dhaka through the
Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road. Mr. Chandan Kumar Sarker, a
senior lawyer of the Narayanganj Bar Association, whose car
followed that of Nazrul, left the court for lunch at his
home, located adjacent to the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link
Road.

The RAB team abducted Nazrul and his associates,
allegedly from a place called Lamapara. Chandan's car is
reported to have arrived at the scene right when Nazrul and
his associates were being abducted by the RAB. So there
would be not witnesses to the abduction, the RAB team
abducted Chandan and his car driver too.

Within 24 hours
of the abduction, Chandan's car was found at the Gulshan
Niketan area of Dhaka, while the car carrying Nazrul and his
associates was found at Rajendrapur, Gazipur District, where
a cantonment is situated. After three days, on 30 April,
dead bodies of six of the seven men were found floating in
the Shitalakkhaya river, adjacent to Narayanganj. The
seventh body was found in the same river on 1 May. Each dead
body had 24 bricks fastened to it, 12 in the front and 12 in
the back. The bricks were placed in ration bags, similar to
those distributed among security forces.

The Civil Surgeon
of Narayanganj district, who headed the team that conducted
the autopsy on the dead bodies, told the media that all the
seven victims were hit in the head before they were
strangulated. The injuries on most bodies appeared similar;
Nazrul's body had additional injury marks. The abdomens of
all seven bodies were perforated, so that the bodies would
not float. However, the jute ropes used in fastening the
dead bodies rotted under water and gave way. As a result,
the dead bodies surfaced. The Civil Surgeon said that he
believed "only professional, skilled and trained people
could have carried out such an act."

The police officers
later admitted to the media and local human rights defenders
that they came to know about the abduction of seven people,
including Nazrul Islam and Chandan Sarker, soon after the
incidents occurred. However, the police did not take any
action. The police did not include the names of any RAB
officers in the complaint regarding Nazrul's disappearance.
This is the kind of immunity enjoyed by criminals in the
RAB, and the goons of the ruling parties of Bangladesh. The
deliberate avoidance of the police, other units of RAB and
all the agencies in rescuing the abducted men alive also
indicates the level of lawlessness that plagues the
country.

Lt. Col. Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, Commander of
RAB-11, based in Narayanganj, is married to a daughter of
Mr. Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury (Maya), a cabinet minister of
the incumbent regime. The RAB-11 Commander and his
brother-in-law, Mr. Sajedul Islam Chowdhury, also known as
Dipu Chowdhury (son of Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury),
who is a business partner of NCC Councillor Nur Hossain,
allegedly planned the abduction and disappearance of Nazrul,
as a result of enmity between Nazrul and Nur, with Nur,
allegedly, being a goon of Mr. Shamim Osman.

Mr. Shamim
Osman, a Member of Parliament from Narayanganj district won
his seat uncontested in the January 5th fake parliamentary
election (For further details, please see AHRC's statement
on the fake general elections in Bangladesh here). Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina backs Mr. Osman; he has even claimed,
in a press briefing, that he informed the Sheikh Hasina over
telephone within ten minutes of the RAB abduction. Sheikh
Hasina, who also happens to be the nation's Home Minister,
has not denied Shamim's version of events.

The Prime
Minister and Home Minister Sheikh Hasina took no action to
save the lives of the abducted seven. Her hands are stained
with the blood of these seven victims. Following continued
public protest, the government withdrew top officials from
Narayanganj district two days after the disappearance of the
seven men. The officers include the Deputy Commissioner
(DC), the Superintendent of Police (SP), and three officers
of the RAB-11, namely Lt. Col. Tareque Sayeed Mohammad,
Major Arif Hossain, and Lt. Commander SM Masud Rana. The
three military officers were deputed back to their original
units in the army and navy. On 5 May, the government
announced that these three military officers had been given
forced retirements. The government has, however, not frozen
their bank accounts or arrested any of the officers.

Since
the abduction and disappearance of the seven men, a number
of people took to the streets around Narayanganj and other
parts of the country. The district Bar Association
continuously staged protests demanding the return of their
member, Mr. Chandan Kumar Sarker. The lawyers called for a
general strike in the district, which was supported by
different Bar Associations in Bangladesh. Public protests
have not stopped.

The Narayanganj Bar Association, along
with another organisation and the son-in-law of slain lawyer
Chandan Kumar Sarker, has filed a writ petition with the
High Court Division demanding the arrest of the military
officers.

On 11 May 2014, a High Court Bench has directed
the government and the Inspector General of Bangladesh
Police to arrest the three military officers. Two of the
officers are reportedly being housed in the Logistic Area of
the Dhaka Cantonment. The High Court has also asked the
authorities to explain why they would not be directed to
"effectively consider an amendment to the existing law(s)
regulating professional activities of the police, RAB and
other law enforcement agencies aiming at updating their
various legal provisions relating to their duties and
responsibilities towards ensuring effective enjoyment of the
citizens' rights enshrined Article 31, 32, 36, 42 and 44 of
the constitution."

The court has reportedly asked the
authorities to explain why the government would not be
directed to ensure 'uninfluenced' and 'unbiased'
investigation into the murders. The authorities have also
been asked why the government would not be directed to
"oversee the performance of the law enforcement agencies in
view of human rights". Secretaries to the home, law, and
public administration ministries, the National Human Rights
Commission chairman, and the Inspector General of Police
have been asked to reply in four weeks. The police have not
yet identified all the alleged RAB perpetrators and no RAB
official has yet been accused in the cases filed regarding
the seven victims.

Could this abduction and murder of
seven men have been committed by but three officers? It is
likely that more than a dozen RAB personnel were involved in
the crime; this is something the government has been trying
ignore. Bangladeshis know that the officers of the military
and paramilitary forces – such as the Bangladesh Army, the
RAB, and the police – enjoy impunity for the crimes they
commit. Officers of the armed forces and ruling politicians
and their associates and families are understood to be above
Bangladesh's Constitution and other domestic laws while the
party is in power.

Everyday, citizens are abducted by
plain clothed men claiming to be the officers of the Rapid
Action Battalion (RAB) and the Detective Branch (DB) of
Police. No such incident has been met with a credible
investigation. Citizen questions about the abductions, which
are followed by either disappearance or the recovery of dead
bodies, have not been answered.

In few incidences the
abductees have been found alive, following temporary
disappearance. These victims and their families are usually
more scared than ever. Nobody dares to share the true
stories of their abduction, either publicly or privately, on
fear of extrajudicial execution, and with an understanding
that an official complaint will come to nothing. On the
other hand, law-enforcement agencies continue to blame
'criminals' for such abductions and disappearances.

The
people of Bangladesh have been demanding that the RAB be
disbanded immediately for its utter failure in acting under
the purview of the laws of the land. Instead, the RAB, which
claims to be an 'elite force', has always blamed 'criminals'
for gross violation of human rights, such as the
extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances. If the
RAB's job is to blame 'criminals' for committing crimes like
abduction and disappearance, criminals that use similar
uniforms, vehicles, and mien across the country, then what
kind of elite force is the RAB? The Asian Human Rights
Commission and its sister organisation the Asian Legal
Resource Centre recommended in 2006 that the government of
Bangladesh disband the RAB. At that time, a Special Report
titled "Lawless law-enforcement and the parody of judiciary
in Bangladesh" was published in article2. The AHRC
reiterates that the RAB should be disbanded, immediately,
joining voices in Bangladesh making this demand at
present.

The discourse regarding abduction, disappearance,
and extrajudicial executions should not focus on only the
seven victims of Narayanganj, i.e. on event reporting. There
are so many names like Mohammad Salim Mian, Imam Hossain
Badal, Chowdhury Alam, M. Ilias Ali, who have been victim to
enforced disappearance. In last eight years, hundreds of
people have been disappeared. The discourse must include all
these victims. None of their families have received any
answer from the government or justice through the judiciary.
The people have to find a way to bring the rule of law to
Bangladesh. Presently, law-enforcement agencies do not
comply with the system of rule of law. It is the chains of
corruption that are being complied with. And, it is these
chains of corruption that are strangling the nation and
mangling the fate of rule of law, against the people's
aspirations.

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